As
you head from Dumfries
down the east bank of the River
Nith you are travelling in what was formerly Dumfries-shire, on the
west bank you travel down what was formerly Galloway. They are now united
in an administrative region known as Dumfries
and Galloway which, along the Solway
coast, extends east-west from Gretna to
Stranraer,
a distance of around 100 miles. East of Gretna 'D&G' (as the region
is known for short) extends eastward as far as Langholm.

The River Nith is navigable as far as Dumfries. The modern town of Dumfries
straddles the river nowadays at this point - on both banks. Formerly however,
the old 'Royal Burgh of Dumfries' (created such in 1186) stood on the
east bank of the river and on the west bank in Galloway
was the independent town of Maxwelltown
(formerly known as Bridgend) - with Devorgilla's
bridge (built originally in wood in the 13th century) separating them
- see picture above (in which we are looking north west). With it's 6
arches and solid piers in local red sandstone and probably dating from
around 1430, Devorgilla's Bridge is the oldest surviving mutiple-arched
stone bridge in Scotland. Until the early 19th century it had 3 more arches
on it's east side.

There was of course much rivalry between the two towns and the justice
system of Dumfries did not extend over the bridge into Galloway, so Maxwelltown
was regarded as a haven for ne'er do weels and rogues. Yet one of the
most infamous events in Scottish history happened in the church of the
Grey
Friars Dumfries in 1306 - when Robert
The Bruce killed the Red Comyn on his arduously troubled route to
becoming king of an independent Scotland (with ultimate success at the
Battle
of Bannockburn in 1314), following many years of struggle and hardship
against Edward
1 and Edward
11 of England. Anyone familiar with the film "Braveheart"
will have some idea of the violence and duplicity associated with Scotland's
stuggle for independence through it's leaders Wallace and Bruce. This
area of Scotland is steeped in that history.

Going
down the east bank of the river to Caerlaverock your view is dominated across
the river by the great bulk of Criffel (568mts) and his wee sister Knockendoch.
You may well see haaf
netters fishing in the Nith standing sometimes shoulder deep in the
water several of them in line waiting with their nets for the salmon to
run.

Turning
inland at the end of the road down the river, you soon come to the triangular
plan castle
of Caerlaverock which was taken by Edward 1 in 1300 after a difficult
seige. Shortly beyond the castle you pass a road down to the merse and the
Wildfowl
and Wetlands Trust bird sanctuary, famous particulary for it's huge
flocks of wintering geese. Beyond the village of Bankend you come to the
Brow Well
where Robert
Burns, Scotland's national poet was encouraged to "take the waters"
just before his death in Dumfries - where he is buried and where there is
a mausoleum
to Burns (St Michael's Church). The picture on the right above shows
the Brow Well, how would you fancy drinking that water?

Beyond
the Brow Well you come to Ruthwell village and in the church there is a
magnificent 8th
century stone cross of international significance. Click Here
to see a picture of it

Going down the west bank of the river you pass through
the village of New Abbey where you cannot fail to see the remains of Sweetheart
Abbey. Devorgilla of Galloway founded the abbey in memory of her husband
John
Baliol whose name lives on in Baliol College Oxford as it's founder.
Their son, also called John
(known as Toom Tabard), was to become King of Scotland. There is also
a 18th/19th century working corn
mill in New Abbey run by Historic
Scotland, (there has been a mill on the site since medieval times).
New Abbey is a bonnie wee village with a couple of pleasant pubs across
the road from each other and an excellent tearoom beside the Abbey. Beyond
New Abbey you can turn off at Kirkbean for Arbigland where the founder
of the American Navy (among various other interesting activities) was
born. He was called John
Paul Jones.

However, the place to get an overview of this National
Scenic Area (and much else besides) is from the top of Criffel or
Knockendoch as you can see below. That's Loch Kinder in the foreground
and the tiny light coloured island in the middle of it is a crannog
- an ancient settlement. The Nith Estuary lies beyond this.

In New Abbey, the narrow road up past
the mill lade takes you to the parking place at Mid Glen for one of the
walks up onto Criffel - over Knockendoch.

If you head another couple of miles
along the road beyond New Abbey you will come to the turn off for Ardwall
and the parking place for a second route up onto Criffel from there.

You can see these routes up onto Criffel
on the map on the right. The route from Mid Glen to Criffel is obviously
the longer of the two and takes roughly two hours to go up and back down
if you are reasonably fit. It is possible to go up from Ardwall and back
in an hour if you are really fit or one hour and a half if you are not.
But why hurry?